What kind of car do you drive?

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Rick Wagonner, the former CEO of GM once said that the company will never manufacture small cars...

One of the reasons I swore off of GM cars years ago.

Hummer: Another reason.

EV-1: Another.

Volt: Shyah, right. Another.

Now, selling off Saturn and keeping Caddy and Buick in the reshuffle: Yet another.

At this point, GM would have to sell a car that will cost $100 and drive 1000 miles on sheer good vibrations alone for me to even consider looking at it. IOW: GM is DEAD to me.

[kazbates]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If our petrol cost a mere $4 per US gallon, I'd be extremely happy .

Some of our hard-earned (okay, my husband's ) tax dollars goes to help subsidize the oil industry , or at least it used to, to help keep the cost of gasoline lower. I know it is much higher over seas, but you tend to gripe about what you know and I know gas prices shot up here supposedly because of Hurricane Katrina and then continued to increase for no real rhyme or reason.

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

One of the reasons I swore off of GM cars years ago.

Hummer: Another reason.

EV-1: Another.

Volt: Shyah, right. Another.

Now, selling off Saturn and keeping Caddy and Buick in the reshuffle: Yet another.

At this point, GM would have to sell a car that will cost $100 and drive 1000 miles on sheer good vibrations alone for me to even consider looking at it. IOW: GM is DEAD to me.

Shannon has been looking at buying her first car and has focused in on the Saturn Sky as one of her main choices. We bought one of the first Saturns when they came out some ?? years ago and it was an excellent little car. Hopefully, the new owners of Saturn will continue to make a sturdy little car without jacking up the price astronomically. Oh, and as for the VOLT, David has been anxiously awaiting it's sales since the rumors began. When he heard how much they were going to ask for the thing, he threw up his hands in disgust!! As I indicated earlier, the US Auto industry has no sense and no foresight!

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

Our car history, in order of appearance:

The unnamed '86 Celica SX:



The aforementioned Daihatsu Feroza, "Effy":



The Ford Raider, "Chuck":



The Mitsubishi Lancer GSR, "Damien" (the start of 4WD turbo driving pleasure):



The Subaru Impreza WRX, "Scoobs" (the continuance of the above):



The Proton Satria, "Bruce" (one of our favourite commutes):


(poor picture, blown up - he's the one on the right)

The Mitsubishi Challenger, "Batman":



The second Subaru Impreza WRX, "Scoobs II" (the last of the 4WD turbos, thus far anyway):



The both loved and loathed Land Rover Discovery, "Moe":



and the current drives, The 99 Mercedes Benz A160, "Scruffy" (the dog-car):



and the Porsche Cayenne S, "Wolfie" (with attached ape):

I was thinking of getting the Attached Ape Option on my latest car, but decided that the upkeep was a bit high. Are you happy with yours?

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

One of the reasons I swore off of GM cars years ago.

Hummer: Another reason.

EV-1: Another.

Volt: Shyah, right. Another.

Now, selling off Saturn and keeping Caddy and Buick in the reshuffle: Yet another.

At this point, GM would have to sell a car that will cost $100 and drive 1000 miles on sheer good vibrations alone for me to even consider looking at it. IOW: GM is DEAD to me.

It's dead to me too.
Unfortunately I'm stuck with an Express. It's the costliest vehicle to maintain I've ever owned.

I've heard somewhere, although I can't prove it, that a car costing $15,000 will cost $125,000 in individual parts. Well that piece of crap must be around $300,000.

[vivaldirules]

I drive a 2001 Saturn that's been great like every other older Saturn I've heard about. So they shut down Saturn and kept Chevy??

[wodin]

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

I drive a 2001 Saturn that's been great like every other older Saturn I've heard about. So they shut down Saturn and kept Chevy??

Well, not quite. They sold Saturn to Penske Group. I think because they could, but I don't think they could find a buyer for Chevy.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

I was thinking of getting the Attached Ape Option on my latest car, but decided that the upkeep was a bit high. Are you happy with yours?

Extremely high maintenance, prone to random breakdowns, uses a lot of fuel for very little movement, very loud and polluting exhaust, doesn't start in the cold, doesn't work in the heat, when it runs it runs noisily but with not much to show for it, unreliable, poor power-to-weight ratio, cheaply made, no factory support, completely proprietary operating system, manufacturing process not monitored for quality, few parts replaceable, third class level of brand family, generally incompatible with all other options.

I entirely anti-recommend it. I am so completely unsatisfied with mine I'm thinking of selling it for whatever I can get for it secondhand to some sucker, or more likely just junking it.

Conclusion: AVOID!

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If our petrol cost a mere $4 per US gallon, I'd be extremely happy .

I wish it cost that or more and the tax money be spent on things like transit and alternative fuel research. I'd rather the money went to that rather than speculators.

As for what I drive:
2004 Prius for me. 2005 Subaru WRX for my husband.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

Extremely high maintenance, prone to random breakdowns, uses a lot of fuel for very little movement, very loud and polluting exhaust, doesn't start in the cold, doesn't work in the heat, when it runs it runs noisily but with not much to show for it, unreliable, poor power-to-weight ratio, cheaply made, no factory support, completely proprietary operating system, manufacturing process not monitored for quality, few parts replaceable, third class level of brand family, generally incompatible with all other options.

I entirely anti-recommend it. I am so completely unsatisfied with mine I'm thinking of selling it for whatever I can get for it secondhand to some sucker, or more likely just junking it.

Conclusion: AVOID!

You're very hard on yourself Marc!

And your legs are not that short... Now wake up and write that book!

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by kazbates

Some of our hard-earned (okay, my husband's ) tax dollars goes to help subsidize the oil industry , or at least it used to, to help keep the cost of gasoline lower. I know it is much higher over seas, but you tend to gripe about what you know and I know gas prices shot up here supposedly because of Hurricane Katrina and then continued to increase for no real rhyme or reason.

You don't want to know the prices we had to pay back then....

I was lucky, because in that month the prices were highest, I could go to work by bike.

Before Katrina, the prices were between €1.20 and €1.25 per liter. At the highest, they were over €1.60 per liter.

(so from $6.42 to $6.68 per gallon to over $8.56 per gallon)

A lot of garages were very busy installing LPG tanks in cars at that time... (as that price was stable at around €0.40 per liter)

[seamus]

Great looking wheels !!!

[seamus]

I've loved cars all My life,Lincoln towncar,Lincoln Continental,Mercedes E320 and S430.

Current ride is a Lexus 2004 LS430,probably the best
car I've ever owned.

My next car in 2015 will be a Toyota Avalon.

[HarryT]

When I first visited the USA and saw cars like the "Lincoln Continental" I couldn't believe it. I assume it's called that because it's the size of a continent, right? . Why would anyone want a car that big? How on Earth do you find spaces large enough to park it?

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by HarryT

When I first visited the USA and saw cars like the "Lincoln Continental" I couldn't believe it. I assume it's called that because it's the size of a continent, right? . Why would anyone want a car that big? How on Earth do you find spaces large enough to park it?

I was born in North America and I still don't understand those... Behemoth either.

My father instilled in me a passion for small cars from Europe such as Austin, the Isetta, Morris or DKW.

There's a museum I'd love to visit if I ever go back to Europe... sigh!... one day... The Micro Car Museum.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

I was born in North America and I still don't understand those... Behemoth either.

My father instilled in me a passion for small cars from Europe such as Austin, the Isetta, Morris or DKW.

There's a museum I'd love to visit if I ever go back to Europe... sigh!... one day... The Micro Car Museum.

thanks for that link ! that museum looks great ! i just saw a micro car the other day driving down the street, it was so cute and funny i stopped walking and turned to watch it all the way down the street ! it looked like a little toy, i almost expected it to have a big wind-up key sticking out of the side.